Hard to Break

Her eyes flash with a level of crazy I have never experienced before. This woman is wild, and she doesn’t do anything to hide it.

“What did you just say to me?”

I step forward. “You heard me.”

“Enough,” Tazen says, stepping between us, and then he looks to me. “Qui

I blink at him, but he’s giving me nothing. He’s shutting down around her and I want to know why, but right now I feel too hurt to think about it. He wants me to leave. He’s just kicking me out. That hurts.

“Yes, bitch, you should go,” Sheye

She goes from angry to pouting in about three seconds.

“Told you, Shey,” he mutters. “None of your business.”

“You’re always my business,” she says in a way that freaks me the hell out. “Now get rid of your little toy so you can play with a real woman.”

Oh. My. God.

I open my mouth to retort but Tazen looks to me. “I’ll call you later.”

I blink and hurt swells in my chest.

He is kicking me out, even after she just insulted me. He’s just going to let her treat me like a dog. I look to her and she’s smiling at me. I give her a cold smile back. “You’re welcome to him, I don’t really go for the quick fuck type anyway.”

“Quick?” She scoffs. “Tazen Watts isn’t quick, honey. He’s slow and thorough.”

“Oh,” I say casually. “Well maybe he was like that with you because you’re so,” I look her up and down, “boring. It must be hard not being able to excite a man enough that he can—”

“Enough,” Tazen barks, cutting me off.

I glare at him, and then I step past the two of them. “Have fun. You deserve each other.”

With that I rush out the front door, horrified, humiliated, hurt and most of all, angry. How dare he treat me like that as soon as she comes in?

Maybe I was wrong about Tazen.

Maybe a leopard really never changes its spots.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“So it’s been worth it then?”

I’m out to di

“It’s been a great experience,” I tell him, which is the truth. Working with Tazen has been amazing.

“And you got to build?” he says. “Lucky bitch.”

I laugh. “Yeah, I must admit that part is fun.”

“Fun,” he scoffs. “That shit is epic.”

I nod and look down at my half-eaten burger.

“You’re not yourself tonight, Qui

I shrug. “It’s been a long week, Jace.”

He reaches over the table and taps his finger on my hand so I look up at him. His eyes are concerned and he studies my face. “But that’s not all it is.”

I sigh, slumping. “No, it’s not.”

He frowns. “Tell me it’s not Tazen…”

I swallow and look away.

“Ah, Qui

I continue looking away.

“You did,” he declares. “Shit.”

I nod turning back to him. “That about covers it.”

“So, was it one time or…”

My cheeks burn. “No, it’s been a few.”

“Qui

“Coming from the guy who probably has an entire bed with notches on it.”

He gives me a look and I snort.

“I don’t work with the women I fuck, and I certainly don’t like them.”

“You just made yourself sound like a giant douche.”

He shrugs. “At least I don’t pretend to be something I’m not.”

“Okay, so Tazen’s my boss and we took things a little too far, but I like him, Jace. A lot.”

“Jesus, woman,” he says, titling his head back and muttering some curses.

“You can’t help who you … like.”

He stares at me, unamused.

“Let’s change the subject.”

He crosses his arms.

“Ack,” I mutter, throwing my hands up. “Come on, Jace, let’s just talk about something else. I’ve had a bad enough day as it is.”

“Fine,” he says, narrowing his eyes. “But we will be talking about this.”

I don’t get the chance to answer him, because a text flashes on the screen of my phone.

T—Where r u?

Oh no, he does not get to text me when he’s ready to acknowledge that I exist.

I reply before thinking.

Q—Eat a giant DICK

Jace snort laughs and I look up to see he’s reading my message. I snatch my phone away and glare at him. “Uncool, Jace.”

“It’s fu

Just as he finishes his sentence, my phone rings. Tazen’s name flashes on the screen and I let it go to voice mail before typing out another text.

Q—Perhaps one dick isn’t enough for you, as it would appear one vagina certainly isn’t. I know! Go and eat TWO giant dicks.

Jace roars with laughter, leaning back in his chair. “You’re evil and I love it.”

I laugh, unable to hold it back. My phone buzzes and I glance down to see Tazen has texted again.

T—Where the fuck r u?

He doesn’t find my texts fu

Q—Eating giant dicks.

I smirk as I wait for his response.

It doesn’t come.

Someone is angry. Good. I hope he’s angry. I hope I piss him off. I hope he feels desperate. Those are all the things he made me feel tonight, when he kicked me out as though I was no more than a quick fuck.

I turn my phone off and look up to Jace. “I really have to go. I’ll call you during the week and we’ll go out.”

He smirks up at me, nodding at the same time. “Yeah, honey. No worries.”

I wave with a big grin. “Later, Jace.”

“Later.”

*   *   *

I arrive at home and see the lights are out inside. That either means Dad is asleep or he went out. I hope he’s asleep. I really do. I’m not in the mood for him tonight. I walk up my front steps in the darkness. “Where were you?”

I scream at the sound of the voice coming out of the darkness. I spin around to see a shadow in the corner of my porch. I know it’s Tazen, but him standing in the dark at my house is just weird.

“What the hell?” I cry, clutching my chest. “Why are you standing in the corner of my porch, in the dark, like a creeper?”

He grunts. “Because you wouldn’t have stopped if you saw me waiting.”

“That’s disturbing.”

I walk towards the front door but he stands in front of it, blocking me off. “We need to talk.”

“No,” I say, trying to reach around him. “We don’t.”

He takes my hand and curls his fingers around it, stopping me from going any further. “We do.”

“No,” I say, jerking backwards. “We don’t. You made it very, very clear where I stood tonight.”

“You don’t understand the situation, Qui

“Oh.” I laugh bitterly. “You mean tossing me out like a cheap hooker when your girlfriend came in?”

“She isn’t my fucking girlfriend,” he grunts.

“Well, I’m sorry, when your lady of the night came in and treated me like shit.”

“There’s a lot about Sheye

“You’re right,” I say, stepping back. “I don’t know and I don’t want to know. We made a mistake doing this. We should have never taken it past professional. It needs to stop. Tonight proved that.”

Tazen moves quickly, wrapping his arms around my waist and spi

“Ah yes,” I say, pushing at his chest. “We are.”

“No,” he grunts, shoving my hands down. “We’re not.”